MODULE

In

DEVELOPMENTAL
READING I

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 Module # 1

Course Title: Developmental Reading 1

Course Code: ENG 103a
Units: 3

I. COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Development of pedagogy in teaching of reading of elementary – aged students,

including the teaching of vocabulary, comprehension, phonics, fluency and motivation to read. Use
of children’s literature, assessment approaches, and special needs students are also addressed.

II. COURSE OBJECTIVES:

At the end of this module, the students should be able to:

a. Employ effective techniques and strategies for the ongoing development of independent
vocabulary acquisition;
b. Learn basic methods for increasing comprehension at all levels such as modeling questioning
and monitoring strategies, and the role of prior knowledge;
c. Promote the integration of language arts in all content areas;
d. Understand, respect, and value cultural, linguistic, and ethnic diversity; and
e. Learn how to teach students how to use the writing process and different writing to learn
strategies to enhance content area learning.

III. COURSE OUTLINE:

 Lesson 1 – What Reading Is

 Lesson 2 – Significance of Reading
 Lesson 3 – Factors Affecting Reading Power
 Lesson 4 – Development Reading Stages
 Lesson 5 - Development Reading Program
 Lesson 6 – Reading Models
 Lesson 7 – Comprehension and Levels of Comprehension
 Lesson 8 – Comprehension Strategies
 Lesson 9 – Expanding Your Vocabulary
 Lesson 10 – Analyzing Roots
 Lesson 11 – Building Vocabulary Through Affixes
 Lesson 12 – Building Vocabulary Through Antonyms
 Lesson 13 – Building Vocabulary Through Synonyms
 Lesson 14 – Building Vocabulary Through Context Clues
 Lesson 15 – Using Idiomatic Expressions

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I. MAIN TOPIC:
Lesson 1 – What Reading Is

II. LESSON OBJECTIVES:

At the end of a 90 – minute lesson the student should be able to:

1. Define reading in your own words;

2. Give the meaning of words taken from the definitions under Input 1;
3. Write the names of the authorities who gave the definition of reading;
4. Define each domain required for proficient reading;
5. Do a simple library paper on the history or reading;
6. Make an acronym for the word READING.

III. INTRODUCTORY ACTIVITY:

What comes into your mind when you hear the word reading?
Try answering this:
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CONCEPT DEFINITION MAP

What is it? What is it like?

READING

IV. LESSON PROPER:

Lesson 1 – What Reading Is

Input 1
Introduction:

Reading is an essential part of our daily lives. We read every day, we read the
daily newspapers, we read instructions in recipe books, road sign, television manuals
and even electric bills. Students across year levels also read an array of instructional

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materials like books, journal articles and other valuable references. Hence, days would
not go by without us reading anything we could lay our hands on.
Reading is indispensable. Through reading, we get to known the world around us
and we are able to travel around the globe to meet new faces and experience wondrous
events we never encountered before. As what Francis Bacon posits, “Reading maketh a
full man.” This implies that we create a total view of ourselves and the environment we
live in through reading, making us whole, complete, learned and persons that matter.

Definition of Reading
What is reading?

Traditional definitions of reading state that learning to read means learning to

pronounce words, to identify words and get their meaning and to bring meaning to a
text in order to get meaning from it. However, as time goes on, many propose more
comprehensive definitions of reading since most of us feel that reading is just a very
simple and passive process.
Reading is actually a very complex process that requires a great deal of active
participation on the part of the reader. It is also an interactive process among the
reader, the writer and the text. It is a human act and a worthwhile endeavour in which a
reader communicates with the writers, the texts and their imagined or real personas,
phenomena, circumstances or events. Further, reading is an intricate course of action of
unlocking codes which represent specific meanings and convey the writers’ and texts’
message.
The following are what experts have to say about the complexity of the reading
process. Examine them carefully and deduce what these definitions or tenets have in
common.
1. Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact
man.
 Francis Bacon
2. Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative
pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls
into lazy habits of thinking.
 Albert Einstein
3. What do we read? The message is not something given in advance – or given
at all – but something created by interaction between writers and readers as
participants in a particular communicative situation.
 Roy Harris in Rethinking Writing (2000)
4. Reading is asking questions of printing text. And reading with comprehension
becomes a matter of getting your questions answered.
 Frank Smith in Reading Without Nonsense (1997)
5. Reading is psycholinguistic guessing game. It involves an interaction between
thought and language. Efficient reading does not result from precise
perception and identification of all elements, but from skill in selecting the
fewest, most productive cues necessary to produce guesses which are right
the first time. The ability to anticipate that which has not been seen, of
course, is vital in reading, just as the ability to anticipate what has not yet
been heard is vital in listening.
 Kenneth Goodman in Journal of the Reading Specialist (1967)

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 6. The greatest gift is the passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts,
it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide king.
It is a moral illumination.
 Elizabeth Hardwick
7. Literacy practices are almost always fully integrated with. Interwoven into,
constituted as part of, the very texture of wider practices that involve talk,
interaction, values, and beliefs.
 James Gee in Social Linguistics and Literacies (1996)
8. Reading is a dynamic process in which the reader interacts with the text to
construct meaning. Inherent in constructing meaning is the reader’s ability to
activate prior knowledge, use reading strategies and adapt to the reading
situation.
 Ma. Cecillia Crudo (2005)
9. Reading is an interaction between the reader and the written language,
through which the reader attempts to reconstruct message from the writer.
Reading is also sampling, selecting, predicting, comparing and confirming
activity in which the reader selects a sample of useful cues based on what he
sees and what he expects to see.
 W.S. Gray

Input 2
Skills Required for Proficient Reading

The National Reading Panel (2000) suggests that the ability to read requires
proficiency in a number of language domains. These domains are described below.
Language Domains Description
Phonemic awareness The ability to distinguish and manipulate the individual
sounds of language.
Phonics Method that stresses the acquisition of letter – sound
correspondences and their use in reading and spelling. This helps
beginning readers understand how letters are linked to sounds
(phonemes), patterns of letter – sound – correspondences and
spelling in English, and how to apply this knowledge when they
read.
Fluency The ability to read orally with speed, accuracy, and vocal
expression. If a reader is not fluent, it may be difficult to
remember what has been read and to relate the ides expressed in
the text to his or her background knowledge. This accuracy and
automaticity of reading serves as a bridge between decoding and
comprehension.
Vocabulary Vocabulary is the knowledge of words and word
meanings. When a reader encounters an unfamiliar word in print
and decodes it to derive its spoken pronunciation, the reader
understands the word if it is in the reader’s spoken vocabulary.
Otherwise, the reader must derive the meaning of the word using
another strategy, such as context.
Reading Comprehension The National Reading Panel describes comprehension as a
complex cognitive process in which a reader intentionally and
interactively engages with the text. Reading comprehension is
heavily dependent on skilled word recognition and decoding, oral

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 reading fluency, a well – develop vocabulary and active
engagement with the text.

V. PRACTICE EXERCISE:
Activity one: Answer this.
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Give the meaning of the following words taken from the definitions found under
Input 1.

TERMS MEANING
1. Creative pursuits

2. Full man

3. Communicative situation

4. Psycholinguistics

5. Anticipate

6. Illumination

7. Literacy

8. interwoven

Activity Two: Answer this

Refer to Input 1 to complete the table below. Write the names of the
Authorities who gave the definitions of reading, keywords found in their definition. On
the last part of the table, write what these definitions have in common.
Definition Authority Keywords Your Interpretation
Number

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 What They Have In Common

Activity Three: Answer this

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Refer to Input 2 when you answer the following task. Complete the table by
writing on the second column the definition of each domain required for proficient
reading. On the third column, write another definition of the term culled from other
references. After completing the table, answer the questions that follow.

Domain Given Meaning Another Meaning

Phonemic awareness

Phonics

Fluency

Vocabulary

Reading Comprehension

1. What role does each domain play in the reading process?

2. What role is equally important? Why?

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 VI. EVALUATION:

Check your option for answering:

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` 1. Define reading in your own words.

3. Make an acronym for the word READING.
4. Do a simple library paper on the history of reading.

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I. MAIN TOPIC:
Lesson 2 – Significance of Reading

II. LESSON OBJECTIVES:

At the end of a 90 – minute lesson the student should be able to:

1. Write the meaning of the word using context clues or dictionaries;

2. Enumerate the reasons why we should read;
3. Answer questions from a given selection;
4. Draw a picture visualizing a world where no one reads;
5. Appreciate reading.

III. INTRODUCTORY ACTIVITY/ THINKING TIME/MOTIVATION

Activity: (Asynchronous)
Finish the phrase below. Write your answer on the space provided.

The more you read…

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

Synchronous
Form a group with four members. Let each member of your group read
his/her sentence under Activity One. Use all your sentences into one paragraph,
a member will read the paragraph.
Buzz with your group members as you answer these questions.
1. What happens when one reads more?
2. Do you believe that reading is an important human activity? Why?
3. Why should a person read a lot?

IV. LESSON PROPER:

Lesson 2 – Significance of Reading

Read the following short essays then do the tasks that follow.

THE IMPORTANCE OF READING

Damian Sofsian
It is a well – known fact that when there were no televisions or computers, reading was
a primary leisure activity. People would spend hours reading books and travel to lands far away
– in their minds. The only tragedy is that, with time, people have lost their skill and passion to
read. There are many other exciting and thrilling options available, aside from books. And that
is a shame because reading offers a productive approach to improving vocabulary and word
power. It is advisable to indulge in at least half an hour of reading a day to keep abreast of the
various styles of writing and new vocabulary.
It is observed that children and teenagers who love reading have comparatively higher
IQs. They are more creative and do better in school and college. It is recommended that parents
inculcate the importance of reading to their children in the early years. Reading is said to

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significantly help in developing vocabulary, and reading aloud helps to build a strong emotional
bond between parents and children. The children who start reading from an early age are
observed to have good language skills, and they grasp the variances in phonics much better.
Reading helps in mental development and is known to stimulate the muscles of the
eyes. Reading is an activity that involves greater levels of concentration and adds to the
conversational skills of the reader. It is an indulgence that enhances the knowledge acquired,
consistently. The habit of reading also helps readers to decipher new words and phrases that
they come across in everyday conversations. The habit can become a healthy addiction and
adds to the information available on various topics. It helps us to stay in – touch with
contemporary writers as well as those from the days of yore and makes us sensitive to global
issues.

THE IMPORTANCE OF READING

Damian Sofsian
A book is a fragile creature, it suffers the wear of time, it fears rodents, the elements
and clumsy hands. So, the librarian protects the books not only against mankind but also
against nature and devotes his life to this war with the forces of oblivion.
Remember those golden days of college, school bag full of books, so many things to
learn load s of information – history, geography, math, science. Yes, all those things make us
laugh presently. If we were not able to carry those heavy loads on our shoulders at that time
then I am sure we wouldn’t be able to stand properly in this society as we are standing today.
Our present knowledge is all just because of our books. There was not any use of technology
name Internet in the old days and at that time; books were the only source of spreading
knowledge. Authors’ use d to express their feelings; experts used to share their knowledge with
their future generation only through books. Hence books are like our ancestors’ gifts to us,
which let us know about many things that we don’t know, for example – story of Ramayana,
written as a book by Tulsidass.
Books are the best pathfinders to reach the destiny of success. Importance of books for
our present generation is like nothing because of updated technology. Here I am not saying that
this advance technology is not good, but we should believe in the written words. we know that
Old is Gold. A poor child, who doesn’t know how to write, is just the one who knows the real
importance back as they deserve.
Reading is the best thing to make your mind relax. You can read sweet stories, funny
jokes, fairy tales, real stories; all depends on you, whatever you like you can read. Books are
available in variety and for variety of people. Nowadays there are lots of sources which make
availability of books easily and affordable at your door step, for example, you can e – order your
books easily by just visiting the sites. I know about one of the book clubs i.e. India Today Book
Club that also takes e-orders when you once register its membership. After that you can place
countless number of orders for the books of you taste like latest Fiction, Classics, Art and
Reference Books, Children’s reading material, Cooking, Gardening, Fitness and Health, Religion
and Spirituality, Information Technology, Medicine and many others, with grand discounts and
exciting gifts like holiday packages.
I believe that reading costs nothing for you, if you are having curiosity to taste the
pudding of success. I feel less along when I read a book.

WHY SHOULD WE READ?

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 Jawaharlal Nehru

Why does one read books? To instruct oneself, amuse oneself, train one’s mind, etc. etc.
- Certainly all this and much more. Ultimately it is to understand life with its thousands facets
and to learn how to live life. Our individual experiences are so narrow and limited, if we were to
rely on them alone, we would also remain narrow and limited.
But books give us the experiences and thought of innumerable others, often the wisest
of their generation, and lift us out of our narrow ruts. Gradually as we go up the mountainsides,
fresh vistas come into view, our vision extends further and further, and a sense of proportion
comes to us. We are not overwhelmed by our petty and often transient loves and hates, and we
see them for what they are – petty and hardly noticeable ripples on the immense ocean of life.
For all of us, it is worthwhile to develop this larger vision for it enables us to see life
whole and to live it well. But for those who cherish the thought of rising above the common
herd of unthinking humanity and playing a brave part in life’s journey, this vision and sense of
proportion are essential to keep us on the right path and steady us when storms and heavy
winds bear down on us.

V. PRACTICE EXERCISE:
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Activity one: Answer this.

Task Time
Task 1: Refer to the articles above as you fill out the table below. On the second column
write the sentence where the given word is found. On the third column write the
meaning of the word using context clues or dictionaries.

Word Sentence Meaning

Indulge
Abreast
Inculcate
Variances
Decipher
Facets
Ruts
Overwhelmed
Immense
Vistas
Clumsy
Fragile creatures
Oblivion

Task 2: Enumerate the reasons why we should read. Cull your answers from the three
essays you have just read. Use the table below for your answers.

According to According to According to

Damian Sofsian Jawaharlal Nehru Ruchi Sapra

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VI. EVALUATION:
Check your option for answering:
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Task 3: Answer the following questions.

1. Why is reading indispensable?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
2. What reading materials do you prefer? How helpful are they to you?

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

3. Do you agree with the authors of the three essays? Why and to what extent?

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

4. What do you think is the most important reason why we should read?

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

5. What must be our attitude toward reading?

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
6. How important is reading to you as a student and as a would-be professional?

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_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

Task 4: Answer this.

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Imagine a world where no one reads. Draw the picture you visualized.
Write a belief explanation about it.

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I. MAIN TOPIC:
Lesson 3 – Factors Affecting Reading Power

II. OBJECTIVES:
At the end of a 90 – minute lesson the student should be able to:

1. Define terms found in the texts;

2. Answer questions from the texts read;
3. Explain the factors affecting reading development.

III. INTRODUCTORY ACTIVITY/ THINKING TIME/MOTIVATION:

Check your option for answering:
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Who taught you how to read?

Was it fun? Share your experience to the class. (Synchronous)
Write a sentence about your experience. (Asynchronous)

IV. LESSON PROPER:

Lesson 3 – Factors Affecting Reading Power

FACTORS AFFECTING READING DEVELOPMENT

There are many factors that affect the reading ability of a person. Snow, Burns, and
Griffin (1998) classify them as follows.

Factor Indicators
 Physical and Clinical  Is the child in good health?
Factors  Does he/she have a clear vision?
 Can the child hear sounds clearly?
 Does he/she suffer from physical discomfort?
 Does he/she have motor control?
 Does she/he have speech defects?
 Is he/she able to attend to a task?
 Does he/she have neurological disorders?
 Predictors of School  Is the child mature enough to begin formal reading
Entry instruction?
 What does the child feel about self and about others?
 Is the child interested in studying/reading?
 Does the child have emotional problems?
 What is the age of the child?
 Has the child received preparatory instruction?
 Acquired Knowledge of  How many the intellectual development of the child
Literacy be described?
 Does the child have good language background?
 What is the IQ level of the child?
 Family – based Risk  What is the general atmosphere at home?
Factors  Are the child’s parents supportive?
 Do the family members encourage the child to read?
 Are there books at home?

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  What kinds of reading materials are read at home?
 Does the child belong to a poor or an affluent family?
 Neighbourhood,  Is the school conducive for learning?
community, and school-  Are the teachers competent? Do they have emotional
based factors maturity? Do they lack social sense?
 Does the community show support for literacy?
 Are there enough reading materials in
schools/libraries?
 Are there clear policies and projects that support
developmental reading programs?

While each of these factors represent areas that teachers must consider in order
to gain perspective of the possible needs of their students, looking at recent researchers,
reading experts stress that the one factor that can make the most difference in improving
student achievement is a “knowledgeable, skilful teacher” in the classroom. Regardless of level,
grade or content a teacher covers, “it is an informed, expert teacher who has a sound
understanding of subject matter, how students learn, and how to motivate students to learn
that can make a difference in the “classroom” (National Commission on Teaching and America’s
Future, 1996)

What factors affect reading comprehension?

Keith Lenz

While word identification is a process that results in a fairly exact outcome (i.e. a
student either reads the word “automobile” or not) the process of comprehending text is not so
exact. Different reads will interpret an author’s message in different ways. Comprehension is
affected by the reader’s knowledge of the topic, knowledge of language structures, knowledge
of text structure and genres, knowledge of cognitive and metacognitive strategies, their
reasoning abilities, their motivation, and their level of engagement.
Reading comprehension is also affected by the quality of the reading material.
Some writers are better writers than others, and some writers produce more complex reading
material than others. Text that is well organized and clear is called “considerate text”, and text
that is poorly organized and difficult to understand can be called “inconsiderate text.” The more
inconsiderate the text, the more work will be required of a reader to comprehend the text.
Readers who do not have the background, abilities, or motivation to overcome the barriers
presented in inconsiderate text will have more difficulty comprehending these types of texts.
Students who had trouble learning to decode and recognize words often will
have difficulty with reading comprehension. Students who struggle with decoding rarely have a
chance to interact with more difficult text and often learn to dislike reading. As a result, these
students do not have sufficient opportunities to develop the language skills and strategies
necessary for becoming proficient readers.
Readers with poorly developed language skills and strategies will not have the
tools to take advantage of the obvious structure and comprehension cues that are part of
considerate text nor will they have the extra tools needed to overcome the barriers of
inconsiderate text.
The type of instruction that a student receives will also affect reading
comprehension. Strategies for improving reading comprehension must be taught directly by
teachers. Simply providing opportunities or requiring for children to read will not teach many
students the comprehension strategies they need to be proficient readers. These need to be

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taught directly as students learn to read simple sentences and this direct instruction needs to
continue in different forms throughout a student’s elementary and secondary school
experience.

V. PRACTICE ACTIVITY:
Answer this.
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Define the following terms found in the texts above.

Metacognitive Barriers Decoding
Cognitive Cues Motivation
Proficient Inconsiderate Text Interpret
Text Genres Considerate Text

VI. EVALUATION:
Answer the following:
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1. What factors affect reading development? What influence do these factors have?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

2. Why should these factors be taken into account?

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

3. Explain how the “nature and nurture” principle applies to the acquisition of reading skills.

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

4. Is the learner himself/herself a factor to be considered? Why?

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

5. What role do parents and teachers play in the reading process?

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______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

2. Select one factor affecting reading development and explain in your own words.

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